Second Ward Candidates Make Their Points Pre-Primary

The three candidates vying for the 2^nd Ward seat on Newport's City Council convened Thursday night to detail their priorities for their area and for the city as a whole. Just days before the Sept. 14 primary, Kathleen Sanderson-Upham, Michael Farley, and incumbent Justin Mclaughlin gathered in Council Chambers for the second of two candidate forums this week, both sponsored by the Alliance for a Livable Newport and the League of Women Voters. The 2^nd Ward is the only ward with enough candidates running to contest in the primary this fall.

When asked to name the single issue of particular importance to the 2^nd Ward, Farley summed it up in one word: roads.

"Walking the 2^nd ward over the last five or six weeks, the one thing I've heard more than anything is how horrible the roads are," Farley said. "I don't know if they're any worse than those in the first or third wards, but we need to put money into roads, and we need to do it on a regular basis, budget it every year. We need to commit to resurfacing five miles of road every single year."

Mclaughlin and Upham both put the city's schools at the top of their priorities, but they differed in their opinions on the direction the district should take. Mclaughlin said he supports the new elementary school plan, noting that "people want their children to get a good education and businesses want to know if they put their business here that their children will get a good education."

Upham said she supports the schools as well, but that now is not the time to be building a new school.

"We have two vacant schools that haven't sold," she noted. "I don't know that building a new large elementary school is the proper venue for children."

Upham said she feels now is also not the time to consider raising taxes further. League of Women Voters Moderator Hollie Courage posed the question of whether the city should bring its annual tax increase closer to the state's 4 percent limit, instead of keeping it at low rates, like the .5 percent increased passed by Council this year.

"Having a low tax rate is important to families when they're finding ways to cut money out of their own budget," Upham said. "We have to find ways to cut spending."

Farley agreed that "this economy is not the right time to raise taxes," and that "the better answer is to reduce spending."

Rather than taking a hard stance on what the numbers should be, Mclaughlin insisted that "we need to address the true cost of doing business."

"If we want good roads, sewers, infrastructure repairs, good schools, we're going to have to do something to achieve those outcomes, and they cost money," he said. "Talking about what the tax rate should be first is missing the point."

Part of the city's costs, of course, are the school district and the fire department, two issues that were first debated at the at-large candidates forum Tuesday night.

For the 2^nd ward candidates, the consensus was that the City Council's $578,568 cut to the schools in June was not done in proper fashion.

Still, Mclaughlin noted that "the truth of the matter is that over a long period of time, over 5 years, they've amassed a $3.6 million budget."

"As a result of their budgeting practices, I think the City Council had the basis for being skeptical," Mclaughlin continued. "I went to the school committee meeting a few days later and watched them make the cut to the budget. There was no pain."

Upham emphasized at several points throughout the forum that she thinks the school department budget has to continue to be cut.

"One instance where more money doesn't always equate to better results is the schools," she noted. "We've come a long way, but I think we can do better with less."

Regionalization was brought up several times during the debate, with Farley and Mclaughlin stating that they support the regionalization of the island's high schools.

Farley noted that he hopes to create a more actionable plan for regionalization, "so that when we're sitting here in two years, we're not hearing the same blah blah about regionalization when nothing has been done."

Regarding the cuts made to the fire department's overtime budget, Farley said he saw the decision as another wrong last-minute choice, just like the school cut.

"City council needs to do a better job on this relationship; we need communication," he said.

An attorney, Farley went on to dispute Mclaughlin's claim that the fire department has been working without a contract for the past two years.

"I'm an attorney," he said. "While colloquially we would say the city doesn't have a contract with the firefighters, the fact is that we do have an obligation to them. We have to follow the rules from the prior contracts."

Mclaughlin called the council's decision a "strong statement" that "we can't keep spending $1 million in overtime." Mclaughlin said he believes that the city can do very well with a smaller fire force, while still receiving the same services.

Upham said that the council should have honored the overtime given the department's minimum staffing requirement, but that perhaps that requirement is one that should be examined more closely in the future.

"Planning, planning, planning," Farley said of the top issues the council faces in the next few years. "We need better infrastructure, better schools, to plan a budget not year-by-year, budgeting by emergency."

Similarly, Mclaughlin  said the city needs to "continue efforts to control and constrain costs" and to implement a "stronger, more multi-year planning process."

The north end was one long-term development all candidates agreed could be good for the city's future, with Upham noting that the Naval hospital land is a "prime example of what we could acquire to create a residential-retail village."

"The north end represents the city's most important opportunity for economic and growth expansion of our tax and employment base," agreed Farley.

As a member of the council for the past four years, Mclaughlin noted that city staff briefed the council 3 ½ years ago on the north end plan, but that "we haven't done anything since."

"We need to be more engaged, more active," he said. "We get paid $2,000 a year, and we're not amateurs, but we're not professionals. We need the professionals to get engaged."

Going back to issues directly impacting the 2^nd Ward, Mclaughlin said the Eastborne Lodge duplex development was an example of a situation where the council was basically "birddogging the staff to stay on top of things."

Farley said he doesn't think the council has done enough to prevent that type of development and that perhaps changes need to come to zoning laws to protect the character of our neighborhoods.

Upham said she feels that as long as things are done in a way that reflects the zoning of the neighborhood, "I would say whatever private money wants to do with their land, so be it."

The candidates said they plan to spend the weekend on the streets continuing to meet residents and ask for their votes. The 2nd Ward contest will be reduced from three candidates to two after the Sept. 14 primary.